The Moonlight
by Tuna Salad Sonnet
Summary: -Post War- Yue would be lying if she said she wasn't amused. Jet/Mai.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.

_**Ships: **_Mai/Jet.  
_**Warnings:**_ Possible spoilers for Episode 41, "The Awakening" and one violent threat.  
_**Other:**_ Sort-of continuation of "Inhibitions". There is an explanation of what's going on in a note over there.

* * *

**The Moonlight**

There is a pond in one of the patches of trees in the Outer Ring of Ba Sing Se that Yue likes to visit. Well, technically, she couldn't _physically_ visit, but she likes to pool her moonlight there, let it light up the bulrushes and the grass and the sparse trees and the shallow water.

She discovered it while watching over Sokka the first time he visited the capital. That was a few years ago now. Since then she had watched as young couples stepped out from the trees and watched the light on the pond. She had seen friends walk leisurely around the clearing, talking of boys and gossip and haikus. She had seen many a future start in her little clearing in Ba Sing Se.

She just hadn't quite expected _this._

_First Movement --- Agitato_

One night, she had been watching the pond, not expecting anything to happen. It was a rather relaxing summer night (quite soothing after watching a bar fight involving five rough-looking Fire Nation men, apparently a very capable singing group).

But that was beside the point.

All of a sudden there was crashing through the undergrowth. A young man, maybe in his early twenties entered the clearing, looking somewhat panicked, yet oddly amused. He turned to face someone entering the clearing, his back near one of the trees.

Yue followed his gaze and saw a dark haired woman enter, about the same age as the man. This woman's face wore no particular expression, perhaps a slight annoyance.

The Moon Spirit furrowed her eyebrows. The woman looked familiar. She had seen her before.

Not that that was unusual. Anywhere her moonlight went, Yue could see, so it was only natural she saw a lot of people every night.

But there was something about this woman that had made some sort of previous impression on the Moon Spirit. What had it been?

The woman glared across the clearing at the man, who stared back. They seemed to be daring one other to move first.

After a tense minute of silence, the man leaned slightly on his left leg, and the woman's hand had shot up. A sharp bread knife was now embedded in the bark of the tree, pinning part of his shirt to it.

"This seems familiar," he muttered under his breath.

"What did you just say?" she says quietly, dangerously, walking up to her pinned victim. (_There's something familiar about that voice,_ Yue thought.)

"Nothing," he replied.

"No, I think you said, 'I apologize for trying to steal out of your family's kitchen, ma'am'."

"'Ma'am?'" he scoffs, defiant. "You think I'll call _you_ Ma'am?"

"You'd better, or I'll slit your throat for theft."

"Slit my throat? That seems a little graphic for one with a little sister."

There is silence. Yue watches with interest.

"Unless...she isn't your little sister?"

"Shut up and give me the bread back."

"I get it!" the man chuckles slightly. "You're just _living_ with them. You're one of those traveling laborers or whatever-they-call-'em."

She is suddenly very close to him and he isn't laughing anymore. She steps close enough to put a hand on the handle of the bread knife and makes a point of glaring right into those brown eyes.

They don't break eye contact as she slips her hand towards the bread in his. Then in one fluid motion she steps back, bread in one hand, accompanying knife in the other.

He still leaned against the bark as she walked away.

"How about we fight for it?" he called.

She looked at him over her shoulder. "I've already won," she said, waving the bread in her hand. And she is gone.

Yue watches as the man continues to stare after her. "Only because I let you," he mutters, but it doesn't sound half as angry as he thinks it does.

_Second Movement --- Scherzando_

It takes her a couple weeks for her to get back to watching the pond (there are many things to watch in the world). She expects the little vignette she had witnessed last time was all there was to see, but of course she's wrong.

The woman enters the clearing, alone besides the company of a little book. She sits on a rock at the edge of the pond and reads.

Yue wonders if maybe she's waiting for someone. She certainly seems like she is.

The man enters. The woman doesn't notice and continues reading.

"I don't-" he says.

The air is sliced with a knife again, hidden in her sleeve. It hits the bark near his right shoulder but pins nothing this time.

He hesitates before he repeats, "I don't think you'll catch any fish here."

She sighs, annoyed. "I can catch plenty of food without your help, Jet."

_Jet!_ Yue recognized the name. The boy in Ba Sing Se that Sokka and his friends had encountered during the final year of the war. (She should've recognized him earlier with that tell-tale stalk of wheat in his mouth.) But who was the girl?

"I never said you couldn't." He replied.

She rolls her eyes and continues to read.

"And now you're ignoring me," he continued.

"Indeed," she replied coolly.

"What are you doing here, Mai?"

(Mai is her name. It doesn't ring any bells.)

"Reading. I would ask the same of you, but it's apparent you're stalking me."

Yue grins as Jet flusters. "I-I'm not_ stalking_ you!"

Mai closes her book and glares at him. "Then you just so _happened_ to be in this exact same area at the exact same time I was?"

He glares back now. "I'm _not_ a stalker."

"Then how did you I know I'd come here?" she asks, standing up to leave, determined to have the last word.

He pauses only slightly before he replies, "Because you were just as curious as I was."

Now it's her turn to hesitate. "What?"

Jet smirks at her. "A girl like you doesn't learn how to thrown knives like that just any where. Where are you from?"

"Again, I can ask you the same thing."

"See?" He smiles. "You _are_ curious about me. Go ahead. Ask me anything."

She looks at him through the corner of her eye. "Why do you keep helping me with my work during the day?"

He frowns slightly and starts to pace around the pond as he speaks. "A long time ago my two friends and I came to this city for the first time. I promised them that we would start over here. I sort of...ruined it for them."

"So, what? You're redeeming yourself by helping me? Is that what you see it as?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

She folded her arms. "Alright then."

There was a silence. "I'm here for the same thing," she said quietly.

Jet opened his mouth, then closed it again thoughtfully. "You...you want to go get a cup of tea?"

Mai raised an eyebrow at him. "At this time of night?"

The man shrugged. "Ba Sing Se's a big place. There's sure to be at least one open around here."

"I don't have any money on me," she replied.

Jet started patting his cloak, his shirt, his pants. Finally, he produced a small bag that jingled slightly from a pocket on the inside of the cloak. "I have a little."

"You didn't steal that stuff, did you?" she asked suspiciously.

He pauses, he blinks, and he chuckles.

She smiles slightly.

They leave the clearing together that night.

_Third Movement --- Andante_

Yue remembers who Mai is when she sees her smile.

The next time she sees the clearing, Jet and Mai wander around the pond briefly before moving on. But the whole time, Mai listens to one of Jet's tales, apparently a story involving a boy named Sneers and a girl named Smellerbee. (Yue thinks Smellerbee had been one of the two traveling with him all those years ago, but she can't quite remember.)

Mai smiled the whole time she listened, and even chuckled once or twice.

Yue remembers her as the girl who had approached the Fire Prince on the deck of a ship one night. She had been very much in love with him.

The Moon Spirit smiles as she wonders what Miss Mai has gotten herself into as the two walk off, very clearly friends.

* * *

**AN. **So...many...plotbunnies to write... Curse this amazing show! 

Anyway, this one is courtesy of xcgirl08 who has drawn three beautiful pictures involving weather and shipping on her deviantArt page. On her final one, The Snow, she mentioned a possible title of The Moonlight. I almost immediately thought of Jai to offset the Zutara of The Sunlight. So consider this a weird sort of written companion to that series.

And since anything moon related in the Avatarverse automatically equals Yue, she worked her way in too. (Oh, Sokka, why must you have such awesome romantic interests? It makes sticking to one ship so difficult.)

Also, I take music, and the Jai couple always reminds me of "movement", (what with the blades and all) so I looked up some tempo markings. I tried to match them with the feel of each scene:  
_Agitato_ - Agitated, with implied quickness.  
_Scherzando_ - Playful.  
_Andante_ - Walking pace.

(There was a fourth movement, but it felt didn't flow very well with the other three. And the whole point of music is harmony! 8D)

Concrit is very welcome! Shutting up now.**  
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